Is The Giver Still Relevant Today
“We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.” (Lowry 95).
The Giver is about a boy named Jonas, who is selected to hold memories for the public. This is because of the pain and chaos that would ensue if the people had memories. This “Utopian” society may not be that different from our own.
In "The Giver" the society is set up to ignore and reject individuality. Each person is assigned a job and purpose and they are taught not to question anything. Though it seems like our society is the opposite of that idea and is instead one that encourages individuals to be unique, it hasn't always been like that. I believe that it's in social constructs that "The Giver" parallels current society. There are still certain social expectations that influence and often dictate an individual’s life. The book was also written for a middle to …show more content…
high school reading comprehension and what is the biggest challenge young adults experience? Peer pressure. The idea of sticking out, blowing town and sledding down a huge hill when nobody else is doing it doesn't sit well with the average young adult. The saying "If they jumped off a bridge would you?" applies to any young adult book that challenges readers to not be a slave to the "in-crowd." So, the world of "The Giver" is related to our world's peer pressure, societal rule and negative attitude towards individuality.
On a superficial level, there are some similarities - children go to school and have recess, adults have jobs.
More significant, even at this level, are the differences between our society and the community described in the book - lifelong jobs are assigned by the committee of elders, thought control is medically enhanced, relationships between individuals are strictly platonic at all age levels.
On a deeper level, there have been and are groups of people and even some countries that work very hard to exclude all outside influence by severely restricting movement of citizens and controlling communications or contact with others. There have been and are examples of doctor-assisted suicide that could be seen as paralleling the Rite of Passage and Releasing Room experience of the elderly in the community. The treatment of the twin who was not thriving would probably be considered murder by our world. There have been and are groups of people in which a few leaders exert tremendous control over the lives of their followers through indoctrination techniques that can lead to unquestioning obedience as the leaders make all
decisions.
In the end, The Giver’s society and modern society do differ in some ways, but have similarities. These similarities do show that “The Giver” has a society based with standard functions of a modern society, with a few differences in the government and the people’s rights and freedoms.
The Giver is about a boy named Jonas, who is selected to hold memories for the public. This is because of the pain and chaos that would ensue if the people had memories. This “Utopian” society may not be that different from our own.
In "The Giver" the society is set up to ignore and reject individuality. Each person is assigned a job and purpose and they are taught not to question anything. Though it seems like our society is the opposite of that idea and is instead one that encourages individuals to be unique, it hasn't always been like that. I believe that it's in social constructs that "The Giver" parallels current society. There are still certain social expectations that influence and often dictate an individual’s life. The book was also written for a middle to …show more content…
high school reading comprehension and what is the biggest challenge young adults experience? Peer pressure. The idea of sticking out, blowing town and sledding down a huge hill when nobody else is doing it doesn't sit well with the average young adult. The saying "If they jumped off a bridge would you?" applies to any young adult book that challenges readers to not be a slave to the "in-crowd." So, the world of "The Giver" is related to our world's peer pressure, societal rule and negative attitude towards individuality.
On a superficial level, there are some similarities - children go to school and have recess, adults have jobs.
More significant, even at this level, are the differences between our society and the community described in the book - lifelong jobs are assigned by the committee of elders, thought control is medically enhanced, relationships between individuals are strictly platonic at all age levels.
On a deeper level, there have been and are groups of people and even some countries that work very hard to exclude all outside influence by severely restricting movement of citizens and controlling communications or contact with others. There have been and are examples of doctor-assisted suicide that could be seen as paralleling the Rite of Passage and Releasing Room experience of the elderly in the community. The treatment of the twin who was not thriving would probably be considered murder by our world. There have been and are groups of people in which a few leaders exert tremendous control over the lives of their followers through indoctrination techniques that can lead to unquestioning obedience as the leaders make all
decisions.
In the end, The Giver’s society and modern society do differ in some ways, but have similarities. These similarities do show that “The Giver” has a society based with standard functions of a modern society, with a few differences in the government and the people’s rights and freedoms.